{"nrhp_refnum":"07001235","name":"Telephone Road Bridge over Brays Bayou","other_names":["B636-97-552"],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"Telephone Rd. at Brays Bayou","address_restricted":false,"city":"Houston","county":"Harris County","state":"TX","lat":29.710413354000025,"lon":-95.31346803699995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2007-11-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Engineering"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A five-span continuous reinforced concrete girder road bridge carrying Telephone Road over Brays Bayou in Houston, Harris County, Texas, built in 1931 for the City of Houston.","why_significant":"The bridge is significant under Criterion C in the area of engineering at the state level. It is an intact example of City Beautiful bridge design by city bridge engineer J.G. McKenzie, with a concrete urn balustrade railing. It is one of only eleven Texas bridges with an urn balustrade and a later concrete girder example of the type.","narrative":"Telephone Road crosses Brays Bayou in Houston on a concrete girder bridge completed in 1931. It has five spans, measures 381 feet overall, and carries a 40-foot roadway with four lanes. Battered concrete bents and abutments support it, and cantilevered sidewalks are lined with a concrete urn balustrade on decorated newel posts. City bridge engineer J.G. McKenzie designed it and B.P. Panas & Company built it for about $42,000 under a 1930 city bond issue. It replaced an earlier timber bridge that flooding threatened and that sat at a dangerous curve, so the new bridge was placed on a fresh alignment. Its design reflects the City Beautiful movement. Only eleven surviving Texas bridges have urn balustrade railings, and among them only four Houston bridges are concrete girder construction; the others are mostly arch bridges. Because it remains largely unaltered and keeps its railing and details, the bridge was listed for its engineering significance at the state level.","period_of_significance":"1931","architect_builder":"Bridge designer: J.G. McKenzie; Bridge builder: B.P. Panas & Company","architectural_style":"OTHER: continuous span concrete girder bridge","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Current function is still road-related vehicular bridge; described as largely unaltered and retaining a high degree of integrity, though affected by pier protection activities and other projects.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:24.012158-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/75/9694/40969475/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/07001235.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40969475","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q110002767"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/harris-county/telephone-road-bridge-over-brays-bayou-07001235/"}